Walker supports Fedeli

Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker is getting behind the party's new leader, Vic Fedeli.
On Friday morning, Fedeli was named interim leader of the Ontario PCs by the party's caucus following Thursday's resignation of Patrick Brown following allegations of sexual misconduct.
“I am very, very comfortable and confident that Vic Fedeli, as the face of our party, as the person who is principled, is a guy who can appeal to many, many people and show that we can actually turn this province around,” said Walker. “We had an interesting meeting with all our caucus colleagues, everybody had the ability to have their say and we came out of there with Vic as our unanimous choice and I am quite excited and confident he is the guy to lead us to victory in the next election.”
While the party's executive were still discussing whether Fedeli would lead the party into the election on June 7, Walker said he feels that Fedeli has what it takes to both defeat Kathleen Wynne and the Liberal Party and to serve as the province's premier.
“I think what we need is somebody who is going to put the province of Ontario first and be that premier who they can actually jump behind and say we want to support this guy,” Walker said.
Early Thursday morning Brown abruptly resigned as leader after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged less than four months before the campaign kicks off for the provincial election. Two woman have come forward accusing Brown of inappropriate behaviour more than 10 years ago. One of the women was a high school student who said she met Brown at a Barrie bar while the other worked in his office when he was a federal Conservative MP. None of the allegations have been proven in court and Brown has denied the allegations, calling them “categorically untrue.”
Fedeli asked Brown, who stayed on as an MPP after he resigned as party leader, to take a leave of absence while he deals with the allegations.
Fedeli, 61, represents the northeastern Ontario riding of Nipissing and is the party's finance critic.
Walker said he is very pleased with the selection of Fedeli, who has been a colleague of Walker's since he was first elected MPP in 2011.
“He is just a stellar guy who has been in two of the biggest portfolios being energy and finance,” Walker said. “He has led us well, he speaks well, he is credible across all people, whether he is walking in Bay Street, he is in North Bay or he is in Chatsworth.”
Walker said that with a short window in front of them, one of the things he and his caucus colleagues talked about was being able to be “geared up, in process and putting a formidable option on the table to the Wynne liberals.”
Walker said he has been reflecting in the last couple of days and he is confident in his party's ability to get past the resignation of Brown and focus on what they need to.
“My sense is what we are going to do is we have Vic in place to lead us, we are going to continue with the game plan, return to the Legislature, which is a big part of our job to hold the government to account and we will also simultaneously gearing to that June 7 election,” Walker said.